'Genesis Code' shoot on Calvin College campus has actors dressed in winter garb

Actor Kelsey Sanders takes a break from filming during the shooting of "The Genesis Code," at the Science Building on Calvin College's campus in Grand Rapids.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Hopefully, "Genesis Code" movie magic will be able to remove beads of sweat from the faces of Luke Parshall and Brian Allen. Working as extras on "The Genesis Code," they're wearing fleece jackets and sweaters in the summer sun outside Calvin College's science building. The film takes place in winter, and is providing the Grand Rapids men with the unique opportunity to see how movies get made. They received phone calls Monday night, asking them to be on set Tuesday morning. "'Are you bored? Do you have no life?' The answer is yes, so I came out," Parshall joked. "Why not? I could be sitting at home drinking a beer, but I do that every day. It gives me something to talk about."

"Code," the latest movie to shoot in West Michigan, kicked off principal photography on Monday and will set up shop on the Calvin campus for nearly two weeks. A row of trailers on the campus' southwest side provide a base camp for the production.

Dozens of crew members push camera and lighting equipment around the science building's atrium, which is decorated with strings of Christmas tinsel. Lead actors Kelsey Sanders and Logan Bartholomew rehearse their lines, receiving instruction from director Patrick Read Johnson and makeup touch-ups from Deidre DeHaan. Outside, a voice says, "That's where a snow bank is going to be," obviously to be added in post-production. That's why production assistants make sure no one in the shot is wearing short sleeves and sandals. A scene in which Bartholomew and Sanders have a conversation while descending the atrium stairs has to be reshot when an unwitting summer-clothing-clad person wandered into the background. "That's the kind of stuff that kills you," propmaster Vern Crofoot says between chomps on an unlit cigar. Crofoot is one of the Hollywood veterans among the "Code" crew, which numbers more than 100. But 65 of them are from Michigan, many from the Grand Rapids area, and they'll be busy six days a week through Aug. 29, when filming wraps. DeHaan is among them. A makeup artist for 20-odd years, she has worked on commercials and film sets, including "The Chaos Experiment," shot last year in Grand Rapids. She says it's refreshing not to have to travel for her work. "It's nice to stay home," says DeHaan, after readying Sanders for a scene. "There's so much talent here. It's great that it's being discovered." With a production budget of $5.2 million, "Code" production landed in Michigan to take advantage of the state's film incentives. In addition to "Chaos," which starred Val Kilmer and Armand Assante, Grand Rapids hosted "Caught in the Crossfire," starring 50 Cent and Chris Klein, in May and June. All of them will qualify for Michigan's 42 percent refund on production costs. "Code" is a product of American Epic Productions, the feature-film sister company of American Saga Productions, which shot "Station House," a reality-TV pilot in a Grand Rapids fire station last year. The film stars Sanders (the Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place") as Kerry, a writer for a college newspaper, and Bartholomew (Hallmark series "Love's Enduring Promise") as Blake, a college hockey player. They forge a romance and struggle to find common ground between their spiritual beliefs and scientific studies. Scenes are set to be shot at Patterson Ice Center, the Grand Rapids Public Museum and locations in Lowell, where the film's production office is set up. Arriving in Grand Rapids in the coming weeks for filming will be actors Ernest Borgnine ("The Poseidon Adventure"), Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), Fred Thompson (TV's "Law and Order"), Rich Franklin (fighter for the Ultimate Fighting Championship), Lance Henriksen ("Aliens") and Catherine Hicks (TV's "7th Heaven"). Director Johnson ("Baby's Day Out") was bending over backwards to start filming off on the right foot. "We shot (Monday) at the Calvin President's personal residence, and I was literally wiping the floor behind people with towels," he said with a laugh. Calvin spokesperson Phil de Haan said accommodating a film crew is not that different from hosting conferences -- they take place regularly on campus during the summer and generate some revenue for the school. "It's mostly out of the regular flow of day-to-day activities," he said. "When we discussed the contracts early on, they promised to leave everything exactly as before, or better, and they're following through on that." Jerry Zandstra, vice president for American Saga/Epic, said he hopes to market "Code" for theatrical release using independent feature

as a template. Last year, "Fireproof," which starred Kirk Cameron as a man who used faith to patch up his marriage, was targeted at Christian groups, and, through a grassroots campaign, grossed $38 million and sold 2 million DVDs. But that film's overt evangelism isn't present in "Code," according to Zandstra, who also has a role as Kerry's father, a minister. "It has religious elements, but it'll also appeal to those interested in science, too," he said. "Plus, with the hockey scenes and the romance, it'll have a broader appeal." "I like the script," Sanders, 19, said between takes. "It has a great message, so I hope people enjoy it." An upbeat Johnson said the shoot is going smoothly so far and had nothing but good things to say about his crew. "Calvin has a good media program, and the people we've got out of there have been terrific," he said. "One guy who was a director's assistant is so good, he's now our first assistant editor. We have a good cross-pollination between the Hollywood people and the local Michigan group." E-mail: